Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) treatment and (b) care for patients suffering from non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Liver health and liver cancer remain a priority for the National Health Service. NHS England has established a liver transformation programme focussing on awareness, prevention, diagnosis, detection, and treatment of all forms of liver disease, such as cirrhosis, including patient pathways relating to metabolic associated steatotic liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
Non-alcoholic cirrhosis increases the risk of liver cancer, and to identify more liver cancers earlier, minimum standards for liver cancer surveillance have been rolled out nationally and Cancer Alliances continue to invest cancer service development funding in local liver cancer surveillance programmes. As set out in the National Cancer Plan, the community liver health checks programme will continue to offer fibroscans to people with cirrhosis and fatty liver disease, to proactively identify 4,000 patients each year at high-risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma.
The NHS Cancer Programme continues to reach out into the communities worst affected by liver disease through the Community Liver Health Checks programme, to proactively identify people suitable for liver cancer surveillance. Many of the patients identified by this route also receive lifestyle advice and support which aims to reduce future cancer risk.
NHS England is actively preparing to support the potential introduction of new treatments for MASH, including fatty liver disease with fibrosis, alongside the ongoing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisal process.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve diagnosis for non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Liver health and liver cancer remain a priority for the National Health Service. NHS England has established a liver transformation programme focussing on awareness, prevention, diagnosis, detection, and treatment of all forms of liver disease, such as cirrhosis, including patient pathways relating to metabolic associated steatotic liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
Non-alcoholic cirrhosis increases the risk of liver cancer, and to identify more liver cancers earlier, minimum standards for liver cancer surveillance have been rolled out nationally and Cancer Alliances continue to invest cancer service development funding in local liver cancer surveillance programmes. As set out in the National Cancer Plan, the community liver health checks programme will continue to offer fibroscans to people with cirrhosis and fatty liver disease, to proactively identify 4,000 patients each year at high-risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma.
The NHS Cancer Programme continues to reach out into the communities worst affected by liver disease through the Community Liver Health Checks programme, to proactively identify people suitable for liver cancer surveillance. Many of the patients identified by this route also receive lifestyle advice and support which aims to reduce future cancer risk.
NHS England is actively preparing to support the potential introduction of new treatments for MASH, including fatty liver disease with fibrosis, alongside the ongoing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisal process.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase funding for liver disease, including non-alcoholic cirrhosis care.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Services to manage and treat patients with liver disease are commissioned at a local level and are considered alongside other healthcare priorities. Specific investment in services is decided locally, reflecting local population need.
The liver transformation programme has developed a data pack for regional commissioners using public health Fingertips data, to raise awareness of incidence and prevalence of liver disease. It is for commissioners in integrated care boards to determine how best to use this information as part of local commissioning decisions.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what safeguards exist to help that ensure procedural compliance with the Draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations (2026) does not replace substantive disability rights.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Equality and Human Rights Commissions’ (EHRC’s) updated statutory guidance - the draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations (the “Code”) provides guidance to service providers, associations and those exercising public functions to help them understand and comply with the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act 2010 is the law. Duty bearers must comply with the law. The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation across all protected characteristics, including disability.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to strengthen protections against unauthorised access to patient data.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All organisations that have access to National Health Service patient data and systems must use the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to provide assurance on an annual basis that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly. In September 2024 the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework was implemented into the DSPT for large NHS organisations. This enables them to understand and manage their own cyber, and information governance, risks, while maintaining the high standards necessary to protect patients.
There are also a range of safeguards to prevent unauthorised access to patient data by people working in the NHS and social care.
There are various safeguards used in the NHS to prevent unauthorised access to patient records. These include role-based access control, where users are restricted in what they can access so that it is appropriate to their role, multi-factor authentication, and shielding records, where records can be hidden from normal view and only accessed by contacting an authoriser or via an alert triggered by attempted access and auditing.
Staff accessing systems are bound by employment contract and professional codes of conduct to ensure their access to data is necessary and appropriate. All organisations handling patient data should have training in place to ensure staff are aware of their responsibilities.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the current in-development framework regarding the regulation of AI in healthcare will introduce a medical device classification for AI software requiring external assessment, and whether that will be coupled with statutory data-handling requirements governing access and use of patient data.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently undertaking a programme of regulatory reform for medical devices. This includes ensuring there is proportionate regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) as a medical device, which addresses the potential risks of these products without stifling their potential to transform healthcare.
On 26 September 2025, the MHRA announced the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare (the National Commission).
The MHRA has established the National Commission as an independent, non-statutory advisory body to inform the development of a future regulatory framework for AI in healthcare. Its work recognises that AI technologies can challenge established regulatory approaches and is considering how regulation can evolve to support these technologies through more lifecycle-based and proportionate approaches to regulation, including device qualification and classification. The National Commission's role is to provide independent advice and recommendations, and it would not be appropriate to prejudge the content of its final recommendations. The National Commission is working with partners across the health system, including the Department and the Information Commissioner’s Office, to consider how emerging thinking on data protection and information governance should be reflected in the future regulation and governance of AI in healthcare.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure patient data privacy regarding the use of AI software in the NHS.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that patient data is protected to the highest standards as artificial intelligence (AI) is adopted across the National Health Service. All use of data remains subject to UK General Data Protection Regulation, supported by detailed guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office, including requirements for Data Protection Impact Assessments and use of the AI toolkit to help with ongoing auditing of AI systems.
The type of data and processes for handling the data that are involved in training and deploying AI can pose risks to our privacy. Through public dialogue, we’ve involved patients and the public in deciding how and why access to health data should be granted for AI research and development.
The NHS operates within a comprehensive regulatory and governance framework, with safeguards designed to ensure AI is deployed safely, ethically, and securely, including oversight from regulators such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the Care Quality Commission.
These measures, alongside ongoing monitoring of AI systems and active public engagement ensure that patient confidentiality is protected while enabling the NHS to harness AI safely to improve care.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to limit the transfer of patient data to overseas contractors.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are strong protections in law to ensure that health and care information is used in a safe, secure, and legal way. This includes the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, which establishes a legal framework for processing personal information, including safeguarding requirements, and transfer risk assessments for transfers outside the United Kingdom not covered by an adequacy decision. All contractors, regardless of where they are based, must comply with this legislation.
National Health Service contracts must be subject to proper scrutiny and there are tools in place to do this in a targeted and proportionate way. For health and digital contracts, procurement powers, such as the Procurement Act 2023, sit alongside data protection legislation and contractual data protection provisions.
While the Government’s procurement framework cannot explicitly favour suppliers based on nationality, individual contracts can require NHS data to remain in the UK.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure NHS contractors such as HealthHarmonie are regularly monitored.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) registers, inspects, and monitors health and care providers in England.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assuring the quality, effectiveness, and value of the services they commission for their populations.
ICBs assess provider performance through a range of mechanisms, including contract management arrangements, quality and safety indicators, operational performance measures, patient outcomes and experience data, financial oversight, and information from regulators such as the CQC.
HealthHarmonie Limited is a provider that runs services at Highfield Road. This new location was registered with the CQC on 27 February 2024 and has not yet been assessed. The CQC is prioritising their regulatory activity including for services that have been registered for one year or more that have not been assessed.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a third platform at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Station to support business travel between Bristol and Birmingham.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department currently has no plans to provide a third platform at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury station. We encourage Network Rail, train operating companies, and local stakeholders to develop the case for future station improvements for consideration at future Spending Reviews
A working group of Network Rail, Great Western Railway, Homes England and the local authorities has been established to assess the impacts of the proposed Garden Community at Ashchurch, providing up to 10,000 homes. Some feasibility work, commissioned by Gloucestershire County Council, has been undertaken with a view to developing a long term strategy for the station.